Chapman U.: Home to Reagan, MLK, Mozart

Abraham Lincoln sits in one corner of Chapman University's sprawling campus. A few feet away, the Great Emancipator is flanked by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Cecil B. DeMille and Ella Fitzgerald.

After a short walk, visitors find a smiling Ronald Reagan, as countless students cross his path.

The busts of these presidents, activists and artists are among the school's eclectic collection of 22, scattered between buildings, plazas and fountains.

The collection symbolizes the scope of learning available at the 7,100-student school in Old Towne Orange, university officials said.

"We have busts of a wide-range of historical figures," said Sheryl Bourgeois, executive vice president of university advancement. "These people have reached greatness through different fields. They inspire our students to learn and achieve."

The bronze busts are added to the campus when an individual, family or organization funds an endowed chair. Donors select a renowned figure representing the field of study supported by their gifts. The donors then choose a quote from the figure that is etched on the bust's base.

Endowments typically range from $2 million to $3 million, Bourgeois said. Donors range from corporations, such as Wells Fargo and Southern California Edison, to anonymous individuals. The busts, which include their marble pedestal, generally cost about $15,000 each, also funded by donors.

The bust of Martin Luther King Jr. was the school's first, put up in 1994. A figure of Mexican revolutionary, President Benito Juárez, was the most recent addition last month. The head of famed physicist Marie Curie will be erected this fall.

The collection ranges from novelist Ayn Rand and philosopher Paulo Freire, to former U.S. Secretary of State George Schultz and Holocaust survivor and activist Elie Wiesel. The bronze heads weigh about 50 pounds. With the pedestal, they're about six feet tall.

The one of theologian Albert Schweitzer, considered the patron of the university, is more than double the size of the others. Schweitzer's bust predates the beginning of the official collection. School officials are not sure when it was added.

The idea to allow donors to sponsor busts came from two people: The school's president, Jim Doti, and Carol Chapman, the wife of the grandson of Charles Clarke Chapman, a longtime donor and fundraiser and the namesake of the school.

On the campus, Doti wanted to replicate a promenade he remembered from a visit to Villa Borghese in Rome.

Some students said their favorites are those busts that depict lesser-known figures, like Fra Luca Pacioli, known around campus as the "mad monk." Curious students who first see Pacioli's bust are often inspired to hit the Internet or school library to learn how the 15th century Italian friar helped develop accounting practices still used today.

"The busts are part of the Chapman school experience," said sophomore Kayla Andrews. "Walking through campus is like walking through history. Where else can you experience something like this?"